Kick around and Bone Up

"You won't have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore" (Famous Nixon quote as he conceded victory to JFK in 1961)

Today's phrasal verb is Kick Around, which has five  meanings:
1) To discuss  ( transitive/separable).

We kicked the idea around at the meeting.

2)  To treat badly or abuse  (transitive/separable).

"You won't have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore".

3) To move from place to place (transitive and intransitive/inseparable). 

My in-laws are kicking around the house for the weekend.
We are going to kick around an old mining town and have a picnic in the hills
Let's kick around the mall Saturday afternoon.

I spent the next three years in Italy, kicking around the country on a motor scooter

He kicked around for several years in the minor leagues before he developed into a major league player. 

4) To remain unnoticed, forgotten or neglected (intransitive/inseparable).

This old tennis racket has been kicking around in the closet for a long time.  I decided I would take it out today and play a little tennis.

5)  For a routine event to arrive

When evening kicks around, we'll go out for some dinner
When summer kicks around, we'll have some fun  surfing.


Synonym: kick about



Today's idiom is Bone Up, which means:
To review prior studies, usually at the last minute.  To become reacquainted with.

I boned up for the final French exam.
I boned up my relationship with my old college friend
I need to bone up on the subject.  It's been years since I've studied it. I've forgotten everything

"I have to bone up on how to chomp a mammoth bone. I think my ancestors knew how to do it"

Note: There are two chief theories as to the origin of this phrase. One is that it derives from the practise of using bones to polish leather. So, to 'bone up' on a subject was to polish or refine one's knowledge. The second theory relates to the Victorian bookseller Henry George Bohn (1796-1884). He produced a large catalogue of books, including many study texts. Early citations of the phrase in print, of which there are very few, don't support either idea. Bone was used as a verb meaning 'to study' from the early 19th century onward. The first known citation that explicitly use 'bone up' is in Tenting on Plains by Elizabeth Custer (wife of General George Custer), 1887:

"I have known the General to 'bone-up', as his West Point phrase expressed it, on the smallest details of some question at issue."

The Bohn story has the feel of something retro-fitted to the facts. If it really were true we might expect to find some 19th century reference that linked Bohn name with the phrase, or some example of 'Bohn up' in print. Nevertheless, the term must have come from somewhere, so the polishing with bone seems the most probable. Without further evidence the origin remains uncertain.